ODD events on a cruise!

[Joy2Day]

On the Grandeur of the Seas in Dec, just before leaving Cozumel, the purser's desk began to page a handful of passengers. Finally it was down to just a single passenger, who was left behind. According to some people at his dinner table -- His son said he did not have a passport so he would be unable to fly into Grand Cayman to meet us the next day. He was supposed to catch up with us in Costa Maya the day after -- but shortly after leaving GC, the captain announced that we would not be going to Costa Maya due to weather conditions, and instead would return to Cozumel and overnight there. Turns out, this guy spent the night in Cozumel, took the ferry across to the mainland, then took a long (maybe 5-hour?) cab ride to Costa Maya. When he got there, the RCCL port agent knew about the cancellation, but didn't know where the ship was headed. The guy and the cab driver just waited until everything was sorted out, then drove back to Cozumel. He was boarding the ship as we were disembarking in Cozumel.

 

As we waited to disembark the ship in New Orleans, there was an announcement of a short power outage for "testing" -- my 1st thought was why do this now? With people in elevators and crew cleaning the cabins, wouldn't you wait until after disembarkation was complete? Then a few minutes later, we noticed the smell of an electrical short or fire. Soon, we heard "Bravo Bravo Bravo. Deck 4 Aft Luggage Storage. This is not a drill." As we left the ship, you could see sooty crew members in fire turnout gear returning from the fire area. It must have been minor though, because the next cruise left on time.

[KUSydney]

On our first Christmas cruise, I met a guy named Matt. He became one of the family over the course of the week, but one night, he was playing ping pong and some kid was hogging the table, I mean, nobody was allowed to take his spot for like hours. Apparently Matt whacked him upside the head with the ping pong paddle and was sent to ship jail until his parents would come get him out.

[beachlovergirl]

Many years ago when we were sailing near Cuba, the captain made an announcement that there was a pod of whales on the starboard side......a few minutes later he made another annoucement that Cuba's finest was following near our port side. People were running to both sides to see what he was talking about. Here, it was a Cuban naval ship with armed gun turrets, and the soldiers all had guns drawn. The boat was painted gray, but it was old and very, very rusty. I'm not sure why they followed us but they stayed with us for quite a while (Cuba is very long). Some passengers told us they were making sure we didn't pick up any refugees in small boats. It was the strangest thing and a little scary too! :eek:

[melissa_bel]

During our second cruise, we had just left Cozumel when all of a sudden, the Grand stopped. I was enjoying the sailaway and looked down... and here I see a little boat of the Mexican autorities carrying a couple of stranded cruisers. You can imagine the cheers and whistling on deck! An officer opened a doors on Plaza deck so the couple could get in. It was the most curious thing to see that little door opened on the large hull of the ship. But these guys were really lucky the Grand was not further away.

[JUST ADD WATER]

Hey, there are folks out there who have had some strange things going on during their cruises too! Thanks for the replies! :)

 

After reading so many fire stories, I have added a new item to my packing list: Small Fire Extinguisher :D (Don't think they would let that on the plane!?!)

 

We had heard stories of people missing the ship, but if it happened on one of ours we never knew it. We did hear from a crew member that if a crew member misses the ship they lose their job and have to pay their own way home.

 

Bostonlass-your reply was too funny (she said we are on the same cruise in 58 days (Carib Prin) and she is nervous about it now since we are on board and everything happens on our cruises!). Look at it this way, you have advanced warning this cruise may be to the twilight zone :p ! If anything happens, you will hear Bostonlass say "It's that darn JUST ADD WATER. Everytime they are on your cruise you should buy extra insurance!"....LOL.

 

My favorite story was the one about not being able to leave the port of Miami. After the second attempt I would have been thinking it's gonna be a LONG week :D !

 

Thanks again for the tales and keep them coming!

[jemingway]

Nothing odd for me while on board, other than my behavior.:D The first cruise ship I was on (Norway) blew up.:eek: The 2nd (Meridian) sank.:( Fortunately, both were years later.

[lostdart58]

Living ten minutes away and with a view of one of the busiest cruise ship docks in the world here in St Thomas, I have seen and heard some strange things.

At least 5 or 6 times a year the local paper reports cruise ship passengers getting arrested for drug smuggling. Occasionally it is one of the crew.

 

There was that cruise ship earlier this year, (I cannot remember the name) that because of legal/bankruptsy problems was forced to stay in St Thomas (US waters) for the duration of the cruise.

 

But my ultimate story would have to be one that occured in 1977. The cruise ship Angelina Lauro (sister ship to the Acchili(sp?) Lauro/ Leon Klinghoffer getting thrown overboard by terrorist in the 70's) caught fire and slowly but surely (for 7 plus days) burned completely gutting the ship. (there was one death). They dispatched a fire fighting tug from St Croix which literally filled the ship with salt water until it sunk at the dock at about a 25 degree list. There the ship sat for close to two years. It was sold for scrap. A salvage company spent many months righting and preparing for a tow to a scrap company in Taiwan. They got the ship through the Panama canal but about a week later the ship and tug were caught in a storm and the now very undignified Angelina sank in 15000ft of water.

[mlbcruiser]

We were on NCL's Seaward years ago and as we were coming out of the showroom, we saw everyone up against the windows on one side of the ship, peering out. We asked what was going on. We were near or in the main shipping lanes between FL and Cuba and a small raft was spotted in the water. Many passengers got to see the ship's light shine out to find the raft. On it were 3 Cubans trying to make it to the U.S. A boy, his father, and HIS father. We heard the old man was in VERY bad shape. The other 2 were also dehydrated and we heard they had been at sea for several days, had run out of water, etc. Somehow the ship's crew was able to throw a rope or something and pulled the raft up next to it. The old man could not climb the ladder or something that they dropped down to him. He was just too weak and kept losing his grasp and falling back. Finally somehow they got him up as well as the boy and his dad. Everyone was buzzing over this incident, and the capt. did make an announcement stating what had occurred. We pretty much missed it all. But at the midnight buffet we unfortunately got seated at a table where one man felt it was his duty to complain loudly that the capt. had picked up the men. He was very prejudiced against Cubans and extremely angry, saying now they would come to the U.S. and take up jobs Americans would lose out on, etc. (No determination on what their status would be was known at the time.) He was adamant that the capt. should have left them at sea! I couldn't believe his attitude! Wonder what he would have wanted the capt. to do had it been him out there?

[jdecker2000]

Heading over to our roll call in a minute but I saw your post here:

 

Do you have a checklist that your revising for the Alaska cruise of activities that MIGHT get you incarcerated? :-) Just wondering if I need to check this out before getting access to our balcony :-) Just kidding....my mind keeps wandering to the cruise....2 weeks left!!!!

 

TRUST me, DH and I are some of the most boring people you could meet :D . We drink about 2 drinks a year, don't go out at night, and are just plain homebodies! Luckily we agree on that lifestyle or someone would be unhappy :p ! Anyway, my question was just pure curiousity on those INTERESTING people out there! And can you believe the time is so near!!

 

Everyone else, thanks for the interesting stories!!!

[Shipkicker]

On our Panama Canal Cruise (must have been 2002 maybe) on the Sun Princess our cabin A740 was the last cabin (aft) on the port side of the ship. Just outside our cabin door was a large deck, we called it our other balcony! As we were sailing off the Costa Rican coast heading towards the canal, I walked out on our other balcony and noticed a crew member with ropes, a tool box, life preserver, life jacket, etc. I remember thinking it was unusual for a crew member to work over the side of the ship while underway as I didn’t think I had ever noticed this before, but really thought no more of it. The crew member climbed over the railing placed the life preserver around himself and JUMPED OVERBOARD! Another couple was on our other balcony with me and the women started screaming man overboard. I ran into our cabin and dialed 911. I was surprised at how fast the crew reacted. I believe we were sailing at or near full speed. Several crew responded immediately, running down the hallway and out onto the deck. The man was out of sight but was blowing the whistle attached to the life preserver. Several other passengers started appearing on the balcony, many were yelling at the crew; “Stop the ship, why aren’t we stopping, why aren’t we turning around?” As more crew arrived they started explaining that a ship the size of the Sun Princess could not screech to a stop as an automobile would and the ship had to slow before a safe turn could be made. I’m sure the Captain must have slowed to the maximum speed for a turn like the Sun Princess performed. This turn was noticeable to everyone on the ship. I didn’t hear of any onboard passengers being hurt, but that turn required us to hold on. The ship listed (for lack of a better term) noticeable while making the turn. As we approached where the man had jumped, we could clearly hear the whistle blowing. As it was becoming dusk and darkening, we could also see the flashing light on the life jacket. Good to know that light and whistle work if I ever need to use it! The man was rescued, and I added to my shipboard account at the bar! The Captain made a ship wide announcement that a crew member had gone overboard, that he had been rescued, had no apparent injuries, and was being examined by medical staff. Our transit of the Panama Canal would be on schedule. The next day, we enjoyed our transit of the canal. Shortly before reaching Colon, the Captain made another announcement that we would be making an unscheduled stop in Colon. We will stay alongside for 4 hours and passengers are invited to disembark if they wish. I believe this stop was to disembark the crew member that jumped overboard. Rumor on the ship said he was on his first contract, was having marital problems and wanted out of his contract. The cruise ship terminal was in the very final stages of construction. Staff ashore said we were the first cruise ship to use the new terminal. As we boarded the ship for departure from Colon, they had a man in uniform (looked like the Swiss Guard uniform at the Vatican) at the bottom of the gangway. He shook every passengers hand and thanked each for visiting Colon. As we were leaving Colon, it looked like the whole town appeared to wave us away.

 

Another interesting thing! The day after our stop in Colon I used the internet to look at the Los Angeles Times web site. I did not find anything about the crew member jumping overboard. I attempted to send an email to the Times. I got a screen that said, “Blocked by Princess Cruises.”

[RosieR]

Wile1170

We were also on the Grand Princess during 9-11. I think most everyone was in shock. Also spent most of the time watching cnn. Didn't get the chance to really enjoy the ship. We returned to her the next Sept.

[kruisey]

Shipkicker your Panama Canal was entertaining to say the least.Mine this year on the same ship was certainly not as thrilling as yours.Maybe Princess will give we persons who travelled on my cruise this year shipboard credit because we didnot get the additional entertainment !!!!!!!!!!!

[cruise182]

Event # 1) Sailing along a large vibration shuddered the ship. She stopped for an hour or so then continued to the next port. The next day divers went down under the ship and then we were told that the ship had run over a whale in the propeller. We were told the ship was in need of minor repairs but the whale was another story.

 

Event # 2) Another ship I was sailing was arriving in port when a man jumped overboard with bathing suit and an underwater camera. Captain later that night told us the man's explanation for jumping was to get an underwater photo of the side thrusters at work!

[Shipkicker]

One of the rumors on the ship was that this crew member would be put off the ship at our next port. A few staff did come by our cabin and thank us for responding appropriately. Later that same evening I asked at the pursers’ desk if an officer would contact us as I wanted to ask him something concerning the crew member who jumped overboard. Having been one of the three passengers on the ship that witnessed the man jumping, I didn’t think this was an outrageous request. We were advised someone would contact us. I wanted to know if the man would be put off the ship? I don’t believe that these crew members walk around with a lot of cash in their pockets; perhaps maybe we could have given the man a few dollars to help get his act together. We were never contacted by anyone, even after making other requests of different staff around the ship.

[Splinter]

We were on the HAL Statendam in March 2003 when two tenders ran head-on into each other during our port stop at Kona. One passenger was injured. We left the port and sailed for about an hour, then I looked out our cabin window and noted we were going the wrong way! The captain finally announced we were going back to Kona to drop this woman off as her injuries were worse than originally thought. This resulted in us passing by the lava flows at 0100 instead of the planned 1000 at night...we still went out on deck to watch though.

 

On the way back to the mainland when we were still 600 miles from land they announced that 3 people were seriously ill and needed to be removed from the ship. The captain had diverted the ship north during the night. Two Air Force jet helicopters and two huge tanker planes showed up a little while after breakfast, and proceeded to evacuate the three passengers from the ship by helicopter in rescue baskets. They were so far from land that the helicopters had to refuel mid-air on both legs, and they sent two tankers in case one had to turn back. We proceded on to San Diego, but we were actually closer to the Bay area at the point of the evacuation, so the ill passengers were taken to Stanford Hospital. Wonder what this cost the taxpayers?

_________________

 

On a different trip this March, we were on the HAL Ryndam, tendering at Loreto in the Sea of Cortez. My mother uses a wheelchair, so we used the on-board tender lift to get her onto the tender and ashore. On the way back, it was too rough to make the tender lift safe. After trying to turn the ship several times to block the waves, they finally gave up. After unloading all other passengers (including me and my dad), the crew all put on their lifejackets (but did not offer one to my mother!) and then proceded to lift the entire tender up onto the Promenade deck with the divots with her aboard. They then manually lifted her in her wheelchair onto the Promenade deck. Lots excitement, some great photos!

 

The previous day the captain had stopped the ship and sent out a tender to check an object in the Sea of Cortez that looked like an overturned boat. Turned out to be a dead whale.

__________________

 

We were also on a 1995 transcanal trip on the Celebrity Zenith when a man had to be airlifted off the northwest shore of Panama via Army helicopter. The ship did not stop....just tried to keep a steady heading and speed so the helicopter could fly and lower the basket and crew then lift the man up into the helicopter. Sadly we heard he died before reaching the Army hospital ashore.

[imsulin]

We were on the SS Norway in June of 2000. Having been on the Norway about nine times, I was pretty familiar with the itinerary, and our first stop was at St. Maarten. If you've ever been on the Norway, you know that you have to tender in...which we did. Upon our return to the tender dock, we noticed a real "commotion" going on at the tender boarding area. It seems that there were two young ladies with "big hair" who had been detained from boarding. A crew member had seen them doing a drug transaction, and had observed them stuffing the little baggies into their "big hair" to try to smuggle it onboard. They were arrested and sent to jail in St. Maarten...which is not exactly "US friendly". They were squawking about their luggage, and were told it would be left at the terminal in Miami...for whoever tried to pick it up. We later talked to a crew member, who told us that the big-hair ladies had been paid by a US drug dealer (also paid for their cruise) to get some "good stuff" in St. Maarten and bring it back. He also said (and I quote): "They were the stupidest broads we've ever seen!" They caught they guy who paid for their cruise because he intelligently used his credit card to pay for it. If these big-hair ladies had waited to conduct their transaction in St. Thomas (next port stop), they would have been extradited to a US jail. Dutch jails are nothing to fool around with! It's funny, because we had seen these two big-hairs during the sea days, and thought they looked totally ridiculous. Talk about DUMB!!

[Doug&Nadine]

On our first cruise on the Crown Princess, 1995, we were sailing from St. Thomas to Princess Cays. While I was having coffee outside of the cafe by the pool I overheard two officers saying that because of a medical emergency they were diverting our course to sail closer to the Dominican Republic and they would have to evacuate the aft cabins on the Aloha and Baja decks so that a helicopter could airlift a passenger off the ship. Our cabin was on the aft Aloha deck and I knew that my wife was taking a shower so being the caring soul that I am I beat feet down to our cabin to give her a heads up (She thought that I was playing a joke on her and was not pleased). Within three minutes there was a knock on our door and a officer was there with an urgent request/order that we had to leave our cabin right then. We went up on the pool deck toward the bow. No longer than 5 minutes later a Coast guard helicopter was hovering over the outside section of the Cabana Cafe. The passenger who had a heart attack and his wife were both airlifted from the ship. We later got a report from Captain Lagomarsini that the man was doing fine.

It was reassuring to see how well the crew handled this situation. There were crew members in full firefighter gear, divers in full scuba gear and the cruise staff was doing crowd control. They were ready for any possible problem that may have occurred.

A few years later on the Regal Princess it was the last night of the cruise and we were having dinner in the main dining room. We were returning from the Panama Canal heading to Ft. Lauderdale when all of a sudden you could feel the ship starting to slow down. When we came to a stop there was an eighteen foot boat outside of our dining room window. It turned out that it was a boat of Cuban refugees who had run out of gas. By law we were required to stay with the boat until the Coast Guard arrived. The Princess crew provided assistance but would not allow the passenger of the small boat to board the Regal. The Coast Guard arrived 2 hours later and we were on our way back to Ft. Lauderdale.

[JUST ADD WATER]

Have read some really interesting replys to this post. Could be a paid advertisement for buying cruise insurance! It does seem that in most cases (ours included) the passingers were impressed by the way the crew handled the event. This makes me feel even better about cruising with my family.

We did hear an interesting story while talking with a couple from Canada on a cruise 2 years ago. They had been on one of the "Big Red Boats (?Premier)" when the company went bankrupt. They said the passingers and crew were only given an hour or so to clear all their possesions off the ship. I am a good packer, but that would be a stretch for me!

Rene

[kruisey]

Sun Princess and on my morning 3 mile,9 times round deck walk, just left Costa Rica the evening before heading towards Mexico.,we seemed to have this vast Pacific Ocean to ourselves...when out of the blue appeared a small rowing boat (No Engine)with two persons waving their hands above their heads.....we on deck waved back,and our ship sailed past them. Have often wondered if they ever made it to their destination ?

[lostdart58]

[quote name='kruisey']Sun Princess and on my morning 3 mile,9 times round deck walk, just left Costa Rica the evening before heading towards Mexico.,we seemed to have this vast Pacific Ocean to ourselves...when out of the blue appeared a small rowing boat (No Engine)with two persons waving their hands above their heads.....we on deck waved back,and our ship sailed past them. Have often wondered if they ever made it to their destination ?[/QUOTE]The ship is out of sight of land??? ..........and you just waved back to them??............ a small boat with no engine who knows how many miles from sHORE?????.................................



[b][size=5]and you just waved back at them???[/size][/b]

[b]oh my!!!!!:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: [/b]

[kruisey]

Surely don't we leave that up to 'THe Bridge Watch' to decide they are the experts? The boat was on the Starboard side but could be seen getting closer and closer. Would like an answer to this question. Are we as passengers supposed to question why we didnot stop to ask them if they needed help? THis boat must have been seen from the bridge....The Captain told us they always have two officers on Bridge duty at a time.

[imsulin]

That Premier thing involved stranding passengers AND crew in Halifax, NS (I think), halfway through the cruise, because Premier's creditors had been permitted to sieze all of their ships for non-payment. We knew that Premier had been in financial trouble for months, and refused to book that line for our clients.

LostDart...my thoughts, exactly!

[beachlovergirl]

On our first Majesty of the Seas cruise we were to be in Grand Cayman from 9 to 3. We got on the first tender and went to Seven Mile Beach and spent a nice quiet day at the beach. Since it was a shore excursion through the ship we did wonder why we were almost the only ones enjoying the beach. As we were gathering our things to leave the beach all these people started pouring onto the beach. We asked them what was going on. Apparently the first tender was the ONLY one to leave the ship that morning. The second tender had hit the platform in the rough seas and they spent the day repairing it. No one else could leave the ship until around 1:30.....so they basically got to spend maybe an hour on Grand Cayman before going back to the ship. Thank goodness we were clueless because we really had a great day! Had I known I would have been freaking out thinking we would be stranded.

[JUST ADD WATER]

Beachlovergirl-OK now it's official! Since we are BOTH on the 10-16 cruise something weird is bound to happen. Bostonlass will be thrilled to know this in advance :p .

I thought anytime a ship comes upon a boat "in trouble", maritine (sp?) law states they must stop and offer assistance? Even if it is just calling the local authorities and staying by until they get there, the ship is not suppost to keep going. My thought is the little boat kruisey saw must NOT have been in trouble despite how it looked. I cannot imagine them passing by after all the times we have experienced where the same line halted everything to offer help. Just my opinion as I was not there!

Rene

[cruzenmama]

On our first cruise, we found something floating in the water. Two ships conveined on it, only to find it was a parachute.

On the Sensation in 2001, we had to forego Grand Cayman, as they airlifted a patient off the ship.

Rene, I am really apprehensive about you and your luck! ;)